Topic:government

With the military on the streets of Islamabad trying to restore order amid protests calling for the resignation of Pakistan’s prime minister, that country’s defense minister says that neither the protesters nor the military poses a threat. “There is absolutely no threat,” Khawaja Asif told CNN’s Michael Holmes, in for Christiane Amanpour, on Monday. “The government was never under threat. It's just a perception. We still enjoy overwhelming majority in the parliament.” “These protesters and their leaders, they claim that they have the support of the Pakistan Army or the intelligence agencies, which is totally incorrect.” “It is purely a political dispute.” Two separate groups of protesters are camped out at Pakistan’s parliament, calling on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to resign. He was elected just last year, and took office in the country’s first-ever democratic transition of power.

Lisa Linsky talks about a New York Times report that provided new details about how, now that long ago, the federal government discriminated against gays, seeking to fire them from government jobs, all in the names of morality and national security.

In Trenders, the "triumphant" Tea Party heads to D.C. to oust the President; Magic Johnson responds to Donald Sterling's attacks; and Ed Schultz and Jon Ralston discuss Bundy's plan to back off suing the Feds.

The search for more than 200 girls in Nigeria is now “beyond the capacity” of the government and needs international support, Nigerian author Wole Soyinka told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday. “This is a government which is not only in denial mentally, but in denial about certain obvious steps to take,” Soyinka, a Nobel laureate who is often referred to as the conscience of his nation, told Amanpour. “It’s one of those rather child-like situations that if you shut your eyes, if you don’t exhibit the tactile evidence of the missing humanity here, that somehow the problem will go away.” It is not just “a Nigerian problem,” he said. “I’m calling for the international community, the United Nations – this is a problem. This is a global problem. And a foothold is being very deeply entrenched in West Africa.”